Kenilworth Parliament group suffers from lack of male support

It was, however, the ladies of Kenilworth Runners who earned the plaudits, fielding a full team of seniors, which the men were unable to do.

With glorious spring-like sunny conditions and the much publicised drought affecting the region, Parliament Hill was far less muddy than usual, but the notoriously tough hilly course still made it a true test of cross country running.

In the ladies’ senior race held over eight kilometres, Nardia Poole was first home in an excellent 250th position.

She was followed by Sarah Stein (344th), Ros Matthews (434th), Pauline Dable (609th) and Joan Mason (636th).

The team finished 55th out of 73.

The men’s senior race, held over 12k, had an impressive 1,688 finishers.

Disappointingly, as there were only three members of Kenilworth Runners competing, they were unable to offer a full scoring team.

Nevertheless, Phil Gould had an excellent run to finish 171st (improving on his 188th position in 2011). Pete Matthews finished 685th and Tom Dable came home in 1,575th position.

Patrick Roddy took part in his first national cross country race, competing for the club in the boys’ under-17 event.

Over a 6k course, Roddy was disappointed to come home 194th out of 300 finishers in 22:58.

Phil McCorquodale took part in the junior men’s race, held on a 10k course. Recovering from a midweek sickness bug, McCorquodale ran well to finish 153rd in 39:48.

Sally Hicks put in an excellent performance to complete the 26-mile Belvoir Challenge in Leicestershire in a time of 4:29:32.

Neil Smith took part in the shorter 15-mile event, stopping the clock at 2:33:21.

Kenilworth Runners’ Stuart Hopkins finished second at Coventry parkrun 106 in 17:04, with team-mate Matthew Kingston-Lee fifth in 17:58.

Phil Fusi finished 13th in 18:47, with Clive Pearce just a handful of seconds outside his best in 19th (19:07). Martin Belcher completed the Kenilworth contingent, coming home 55th in 22:29.

Neville Chapman continued his winning streak at the Leamington parkrun, with the unattached runner leading home a 163-strong field in 17:57.

Spa Striders’ Will Johnson (18:49) was almost a minute back in second, with another long gap to Richard Biggs (19:40) in third.

Leamington C&AC veteran Susie Tawney led home the ladies in 21:16 for her fifth win in 12 appearances.

Emma Barnes was second and 28th overall in 22:01, with Corby AC’s Catherine Wright third in 22:38.